FIR202 Assignment #4

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School

Eastern Gateway Community College *

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Course

FIR202

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Business

Date

Feb 20, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by BRoseberry5445

1 Social Media and Emergency Service Bobby Roseberry Fire Science Department, Eastern Gateway Community College FIR 202 Legal Aspects of Emergency Services Professor DeCarlo February 4, 2024

2 Social Media and Emergency Service Social media has become very popular for everyday use by just about everyone since the creations of smartphones. We all have seen videos posted online of fights, arrest, house raids,and car wrecks from people using their smartphones. You can't really go anywhere without seeing at least one person with a smartphone or tablet. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how to handle a situation where a paramedic on the scene of an auto accident takes pictures that clearly show the vehicle, patient, and license plate number and post on his private social media account that get seen by the person parents with a caption of “This is what happens when you let little girls take daddy’s car out for a drive.” Included will be the procedure on how Warren Township Volunteer Fire Department would address this issue, potential legal exposure to the paramedic and organization, and what actions might be taken by the employer to the employee. Literature Review A paramedic makes a post on his/her personal social media account with pictures that show the vehicle, license plate number and the patient face with an inappropriate title and is seen by the parents of the patient, who are upset with the post and makes a complaint to the paramedics department. As the paramedic’s superior I would first start off by apologizing to the parents and explain to them that we do not allow this type of stuff to happen and that I will work within the powers to get the paramedic to remove the post. The department doesn't have a current policy or procedure that deals with social media. I would call the paramedic into the office and explain to him that his actions of posting these pictures and the title was very unprofessional and gives himself and the department a bad look and name. I would ask that he removes this post from his social media account and not make any further post of the sort. Depending on what state this paramedic is employed in can depend on the type of legal exposure he could face. In a few states making these types of posts can lead to being charged a misdemeanor and face up to $1000 fine, up to 6 months in jail, community service and probation

3 (West, 2022). There can also be other charges due to the fact the patient could be under the age of 18, along with it may fall into a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violation by posting a picture of the patient's face on social media. I don't believe the employer could do much to the paramedic due to the fact that there was no policy or procedure in place that deals with this matter. The employer however could ban the paramedic from carrying his/her smartphone while on duty to deter them from doing this act again. After this type of incident and exposure the department should create a policy and procedure to address this action and to keep it from happening in the future. Once created then it would allow the department to carry out disciplinary action on the employee. Warren Township Volunteer Fire Department does not have a written policy or procedure that deals with social media posting of incident scenes. Warren has a facebook page and there are incidents that get posted on it, they do not show license plate numbers or any patient. Warren’s fire chief does have a training once a year that touches on the does and don'ts of social media posts that deals with the incidents that we respond to. He does not allow any post on a personal social media account of any incident scenes, whether it be a motor vehicle crash, house fire, or a working code. He does allow the members to share a post that was posted on the departments facebook page that is made by the department. Conclusion Smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches are everywhere in today's society. Fire, EMS, and police officers need to be aware of this and carry themselves in the utmost professional manner possible. Every time you turn around there is a new video post on a social media platform that involves some type of incident. Emergency personnel should not be posting any type of post with pictures that deals with an emergency incident that they respond to. This type of post can bring unwanted legal exposure to them and the department.

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4 Reference West. G. (2022) Legal aspects of emergency services (2nd ed.) Jones & Bartlett

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